Canfield Expert Blackjack System Explained

The Canfield Expert Blackjack System first entered into public awareness when it was mentioned in a book, “Blackjack Your Way to Riches” which itself was published around 1977. When the book was first released it caused something of a minor uproar, primarily because of the degree of confusion that arose by virtue of the fact that there was uncertainty as to the name of the author.

Whilst the author was listed as one Richard Albert Canfield, this was simply an alias of the author, whose real name was John Hinton. The choice of the alias was no mere coincidence, Canfield was the name of one of America’s best known and loved gambling operators.

A former pit boss, and a prolific gambler, Hinton was the mastermind behind the book and whilst it sometimes degenerates into what seems suspiciously like exaggeration and fantasy (I mean, come on, Hungry as a name?) the book I very competently written and has a ton of information.

In the book, the authors of it identify a series of conditions that the system that they were going to introduce to the reader would be required to satisfy, with a primary and strict emphasis upon keeping it simple, keeping it intelligible.

As the authors vey aptly pointed out, the mere fact that a system is complex and difficult to follow should never be interpreted as a reflection of its inherent quality or worth.  With that in mind, the authors sought to both convey and devise a wagering system which was simplistic to learn, and easy to implement.

Another crucial condition that their system was going to have to try and satisfy was that it would have to be readily portable, that is to say, that it could be competently applied to both single and multi-deck card games. This was itself revolutionary, as most gamblers were unaware that the number of decks used in a match would have a major impact on the best strategies to follow.

Finally, and this has widely been recognised as the most radical and forward thinking idea of Hinton, the system devised would need to be flexible enough so as to be able to keep up with the changes and reforms that casinos would no doubt implement over time.

Put simply, the Canfield system can be summed as follows:

3-7 are all classified as having a value of +1

9,10 and all royal cards are classified as having a value of -1

Aces, 2 and 8 are all classified as being neutral (no value).

Some have been critical of the fact that the Ace is classed as a neutral card, realistically, it would be fairer to deem it as a high card. Please note that by virtue of the balanced count that this betting system provides, this means that we need to ensure that we convert our Running Count into an Exact Count.

If you are playing a multi-deck game then the way you achieve is very straightforward: divide the running count by the number of decks of cards that are still operative in the game.

Bet Spread

The amount you bet depends on the current count. Simply use the table to the left to calculate your bet. So for example, if you were playing at $10 a hand and the current count was +4 then you would bet 4 x $10 so your bet would be $40. If you were playing at $1 a hand and the current count was +3, then you would bet 3 x $1 which means your next bet would be $3. It’s as simple as that!

Where To Play?

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